Technology transfer is the movement of technical and organizational skills, knowledge, and methods from one individual or organization to another for economic purposes. This process usually involves a group that possesses specialized technical skills and technology that transfers it to a target group of receptors who do not possess those skills, and who cannot create that technology themselves.

Technology transfer (TT) is a highly complex problem in development cooperation. Case studies that ITB has conducted in various projects focusing on automobile and steel production as well as in the machine tool sector indicate that the multi-dimensionality of know-how transfer is often and greatly underestimated during the planning and implementation of TTs from one industrial “culture” to another. Greater insight and knowledge of the problems associated with know-how transfer in TT projects can only be obtained (...) from case studies in which this generalised finding is subject to detailed investigation. To illustrate this, we report on the planning and implementation of two joint ventures in Iran, namely a Soviet and an Italian steel works. (shrink)

Bioinformatics, the integration of information technology and biotechnology, is the primary means to make medical sense out of the map of the human genome, and bioinformatics capabilities continue to expand exponentially. Consequently, the demand for access to human biological samples and medical information has never been greater. This demand is giving rise to ambitious biobanking initiatives - meaning the organized collection of samples and medical information from human population.

Bioinformatics, the integration of information technology and biotechnology, is the primary means to make medical sense out of the map of the human genome, and bioinformatics capabilities continue to expand exponentially. Consequently, the demand for access to human biological samples and medical information has never been greater. This demand is giving rise to ambitious biobanking initiatives - meaning the organized collection of samples and medical information from human population.

[FIRST PARAGRAPH] During the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Engineer was only one of many British and American publications that took an avid interest in the rapid rise of Japan to the status of a fully industrialized imperial power on a par with major European nations. In December 1897 this journal published a photographic montage of "Pioneers of Modem Engineering Education in Japan" (Figure I), showing a selection of the Japanese and Western teachers who had worked to bring (...) about this singular transformation.' The predominance of Japanese figures in this representation is highly significant: it is an acknowledgment by British observers that the industrialization of Japan-the "Britain of the East"-was not a feat accomplished solely by Western experts who transferred their science and technology to passive Japanese recipients. Yet in focusing primarily on native teachers active in Japan after 1880, this image excludes several of the very foreigners who had trained this indigenous workforce in the preceding decade. Rather than attempting to assess the careers of each of the many international experts involved in Western encounters with Japan before and after the Meiji restoration in 1868, we will focus on disaggregating the highly individualized responses of just some of the Englishspeaking characters. In documenting their diverse encounters with Japanese people and technologies, we will look at the complex phenomena of cultural exchange in which they participated, not always without chauvinism or resistance. (shrink)

The United Nations Scientific, Education and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) expresses in its title and substance a controversial linkage of two normative systems: international human rights law and bioethics. The UDBHR has the status of what is known as a ‘non-binding’ declaration under public international law. The UDBHR’s normative foundation within bioethics (and association, for example, with virtue-based or principlist bioethical theories) is more problematic. Nonetheless, the UDBHR contains socially important principles of (...) class='Hi'>technology transfer and transnational benefit (articles 14, 15 and 21). This paper is one of the first to explore how the disciplines of bioethics and international human rights law may interact in the UDBHR to advance the policy relevance and health impact of technology transfer and transnational benefit principles. It investigates their normative ancestry in the UDBHR, as well as relevant conceptual differences between bioethics and public international law in this respect and how these may be relevant to their conceptual evolution and application. (shrink)

Technology transfer is a multi-level process of communication involving a variety of senders and receivers of ideas and materials. As a response to market failure, or as an effort to accelerate market-driven social change, technology transfer may combine public and private aparatus or rely solely on public institutional mechanisms to identify, develop, and deliver innovations and information. Technology transfer institutions include universities, government ministries, research institutes, and what may be termed the ‘project sector’. Four (...) farm- and village-level change models are considered: traditional community development, adoption-diffusion, training and Visit Extension, and Farming Systems Research. The challenges to technology transfer efforts center on developing indigenous capacity to generate and adapt agricultural technology to local conditions. This is the primary objective of technology transfer in agriculture and the basis for advancing rural development. (shrink)

Volume 51, Issue 9, August 2019, Page 867-870.

The introduction of new medical technologies into a developing country is usually greeted with enthusiasm as the possible benefits become an object of great anticipation and provide new hope for therapy or relief. The prompt utilization of new discoveries and inventions by a medical practitioner serves as a positive indicator of high standing in the professional community. But the transfer of medical technology also involves a transfer of concomitant values. There is a danger that, in the process (...) of adopting a particular technology, the user takes for granted the general utility and desirability of the implements and procedures under consideration without recognizing the socio‐cultural peculiarities of the adopting country. A sensitivity to the social conditions and cultural traditions is important so that the emergence of new values can be examined critically and the transfer of necessary technology can be effected smoothly. In the Philippines, efforts to boost patronage of transplant technology appear to have overlooked this need for socio‐cultural sensitivity. Legislative fiat cannot be used to override deep‐seated values. There is a need to be more sensitive to the possible confrontation of values that the transfer of technology brings in order to avoid the erosion of indigenous socio‐cultural values and minimize the intrusiveness of beneficial medical technology. (shrink)

Lately, the issues of “transfer of technology” seem to have become fashionable. However, they cannot be considered at length until those of DEVELOPMENT are clarified: transfer of technology is a means, development is an end, and, if we are not careful, we risk—in all good faith—being carried away by the example of the development and techniques of the “Northern countries,” while the needs and possibilities of the “South” may be quite different.

Our historical study of Canada’s main research university illuminates the overlooked influence of national identities and interests as forces shaping the institutionalization of technology transfer. Through the use of archival sources we trace the rise and influence of Canadian technological nationalism—a response to Canada’s perceived dependency on the United States’ science and technology. Technological nationalism provided a symbol for producing a shared understanding of the desirability and appropriateness of technology transfer that legitimated the commercial activities (...) of university scientists. (shrink)

Expert systems are being developed in a multitude of domains worldwide. The usage of expert systems within organizations is growing; however, many expert systems projects still fail due to poor ‘institutionalization’ practices. This paper addresses various strategies for providing the transfer of expert systems technology within organizations. Specifically, this paper will address expert system technology transfer strategies using examples from United States and Mexican organizations.

In 1978, 16 months after Mao Zedong's death, China's new leader, Deng Xiaoping, introduced market reforms and an "opening" to the West that allowed the US company Hewlett-Packard (HP) to enter China in 1981. Shortly thereafter, HP began a partnership with the Chinese company Legend Computer (now Lenovo), through which HP transferred its technology in four main areas: (1) product technology, (2) business model, (3) management practices, and (4) strategic planning processes. This technology transfer seems to (...) be a "just exchange" in that HP received access to China's market while China received key managerial, marketing, and product technologies. Although multinationals are often criticized for their dealings with developing nations, the HP–Legend case provides an illustration of how a company from an industrialized nation can deal justly with a developing nation and assist in advancing its development. The transfer of technology from HP to Legend was facilitated by several factors, including HP's historical willingness to help startups, its strategic posture, a favorable local environment, Legend's recognition of its own needs, its willingness to learn from a foreign company, and the incentives to share technology that the Chinese government provided. (shrink)

The purpose of this essay is to: (1) detail how recent trends in philosophical theory have made it possible for philosophers of technology to critically discuss technology transfer; (2) demonstrate that economic standards of assessment are conducive to obscuring the hidden tradeoffs that technological practices, such as mobile phone use in Bangladesh, can engender; and (3) provide the basis of an alternative model that can reflexively addresses dimensions of technology transfer that neo-classical economic accounts occlude.

The scientific life in mid-seventeenth-century Europe was characterised by numerous academies of sciences and scientific associations whose aim was to propagate the development of the sciences, art and literature. Some have called it “the new Age of Academies all over Europe”. These institutions brought together not only educated professionals but also a large number of amateur scientists. They called for the deliberate abandonment of verbal dispute in favour of visual demonstration/experimentation, and for the creation of paid scientific professionals who would (...) devote their full time to the enterprise. These scientists conducted numerous experiments, the results of which were demonstrated at academic sessions. Franciszek Bieliński became Grand Marshal of the Crown in 1742. During the many years of his public service, he aimed to improve the well-being of Warsaw inhabitants, especially by paving the streets and creating a modern sewerage system. In the light of recent scholarly studies, Franciszek Bieliński is perceived as a figure of very wide horizons, striving to join the Parisian academic scientific discourse in order to transfer knowledge and technology to Poland. Bieliński exchanged letters with the eminent member and three-time president of the Paris Academy of Sciences, Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau, who among numerous other projects tested new methods of horticulture, agriculture and forestry. The article aims to discuss the scientific research undertaken by Bieliński in regards to technology transfer in the area of agriculture, on the basis of unanalysed documents. Recently found correspondence shows that Grand Marshal Bieliński was involved in experimental research supervised by Duhamel du Monceau, under the aegis of the Paris Academy of Sciences. It pertained to modern agricultural crops and the application of new technologies. The agricultural experiments that Bieliński carried out on his private lands in Otwock over many years focused on improving and increasing agricultural production in accordance with the instructions given by Duhamel du Monceau. An interesting research finding was the detailed description of one of the earliest transfers of advanced technology in the field of agricultural machinery. Reports of the work conducted in Poland, which were sent to Duhamel du Monceau, proved to be so useful and important that the latter mentioned these in the proceedings of the Paris Academy of Sciences. (shrink)

Technology transfer is an essential source of technological innovation for enterprises, which is conducive to the market transformation of patent achievements and the commercial application of new technologies. Building upon social capital theory, all data analyses were performed using SPSS 22.0 and Amos software with the multiple linear regression method. The study explores the mechanism of policy perception to obtain the technical resources needed for enterprise development through boundary-spanning behavior, with a moderating effect of inter-organizational trust and technological (...) potential gap. The study uses survey data from 125 enterprise teams of 42 technology-based enterprises in China. The results show that policy perceived usefulness and usability significantly promote technology transfer performance and boundary-spanning behavior plays a mediating role between them. Speaking of the influencing factors of technology transfer, technological potential gap significantly moderates the relationship between boundary-spanning and technology transfer performance. In contrast, inter-organizational trust positively moderates the relationship between boundary-spanning and technology transfer performance. The research provides theoretical reference and guidance for enterprises on using policy perception better to improve technology transfer performance in the institutional environment. It also helps inspire enterprises to better deal with the cooperative relationship between relevant stakeholders and achieve win-win cooperation. (shrink)

The discourses of agricultural extension reveal how actors represent their scientific activities and goals. The “transfer of technology” discourse developed with the professional U.S. extension service, reproducing its expert/lay power relations. Agroecology is emerging as a systems approach to preventing agricultural pollution. Its theoreticians argue that agroecology cannot be transferred like technology but must be extended through networks of participatory social learning. In California, hundreds of actors and dozens of institutions have cocreated agroecological partnerships using this alternative (...) extension model. They have developed three alternative extension discourses to represent and explain their activities. Bruno Latour's “circulatory system of science” model provides a superior theoretical framework for interpreting the participation and discourses of diverse actors in this extension practice. (shrink)

Don Ihde tries to conceptualize cross-cultural technology transfer within the post-phenomenological perspective. Using his concept of the multistability of technological artifacts, Ihde discusses how technologies could have a variety of uses in different contexts. When taken at the level of international technology transfer, i.e. the level where technologies move from one cultural geography to another, there will be two contexts: (i) the context where the artifact is being produced and (ii) the context into which it is (...) moving to. Ihde’s problem lies in emphasizing the first and almost concluding with certainty that technologization is Westernization. Consequently, his theory of technology transfer, in addition to being culturalist, gives priority to the cultural context from which it was physically separated to the culture in which it has started functioning. The author of this paper critically engages this tendentiously culturalist point of view. (shrink)

This article critically evaluates the process of technology transfer from developed to developing countries. It considers market-based policies contained in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which are proposed as tools to promote the transfer of technologies that can abate greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change. It uses the case of India to exemplify the conditions that exist and issues that arise in a rapidly developing country that is a recipient of such investments. It (...) contests the claim that such market-based strategies embodied in the present climate policy framework can facilitate the transfer of technologies that offer ecologically sustainable and socially equitable solutions for developing countries. (shrink)

(1982). The new international economic order, basic needs, and technology transfer: Toward an integrated strategy for development in the future. World Futures: Vol. 18, No. 3-4, pp. 163-176.

One issue underlying all others when technology transfer occurs is the need to build capacity. This capacity is needed in order to know what to buy, when to buy, from whom to buy, and how to buy. These decisions should always be taken by those working within a country's economy, particularly the decision on what to buy, which is value laden.

University research in the U.S.A. is based on a tight relationship between University and economic activity. In Europe and South America, although less commonly than in the U.S.A., there's already a large amount of experiences related to the creation of "on campus" or "spin off" companies based on the results and knowledge obtained from research in University departments and R&D centres financed with public funds. The virtual base of this results in communication technologies enables private use and the appropriation of (...) the benefits by their authors. European model, historically widely separated from private companies, has produced high quality basic research, but it has failed to obtain profit from technological development. Research funds happen to be basically public. Europe heads for economic, politic and military union. Common economic space and the growing up of the new markets, which we can foresee to be extended to other countries, will promote business opportunities and the relationship University-Industry. University institutions and faculties should think about their current ethic convictions to create a new Industry-University model in the context of a global economy. (shrink)

University research in the U.S.A. is based on a tight relationship between University and economic activity. In Europe and South America, although less commonly than in the U.S.A., there's already a large amount of experiences related to the creation of "on campus" or "spin off" companies based on the results and knowledge obtained from research in University departments and R&D centres financed with public funds. The virtual base of this results in communication technologies enables private use and the appropriation of (...) the benefits by their authors. European model, historically widely separated from private companies, has produced high quality basic research, but it has failed to obtain profit from technological development. Research funds happen to be basically public. Europe heads for economic, politic and military union. Common economic space and the growing up of the new markets, which we can foresee to be extended to other countries, will promote business opportunities and the relationship University-Industry. University institutions and faculties should think about their current ethic convictions to create a new Industry-University model in the context of a global economy. (shrink)

Thomas Edison's incandescent lamp was one of four that were displayed at the first international exhibition of electricity in Paris in 1881. By the end of the exhibition, most observers believed that Edison had taken a clear lead over his rivals: Maxim, Swan, and Lane-Fox. In reality, his victory was a narrow one that owed much to the skilful management of public opinion by his aides in Paris. Nevertheless, it reinforced Edison's view of Paris as the natural starting point for (...) the implantation of his system in continental Europe. Almost immediately, however, the three companies that he established for the purpose in Paris were in difficulties as the financial crash of January 1882 hardened into sustained recession. Quickly Edison's favour turned to Milan and, more particularly, Berlin, leaving the once central Parisian venture to become a minor element in his European strategy. (shrink)

The use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture makes great promises of better seeds, but also raises many controversies about ownership of seeds and about potential hazards. I suggest that owners of these seeds bear the responsibility to do no harm in using these seeds. After defining the nature of this responsibility, this paper asks, if ownership entails moral responsibility, and ownership can be transferred, then how is moral responsibility transferred? Building on the literature on use plans, I suggest five (...) conditions for a good transfer of moral responsibility for genetically modified seeds. I also look at the Monsanto Technology Use Guide and Technology/Stewardship Agreement, as an examplar of a use plan, to explore the extent to which these conditions are present. I conclude that use plans can play a role in the distribution and transfer of moral responsibility for technologies with high benefits and potential harmful uncertainties. (shrink)

One of the central factors influencing the process and the outcome of technology transfer is the nature of the technology being transferred. This paper identifies and discusses the main characteristics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology from the point of view of international technology transfer. It attempts to indicate the peculiarities of AI in this context and move towards a framework to assist recipient decision makers in optimising the formulation of their policies on AI (...) class='Hi'>technology transfer. (shrink)